Your invitations are the first thing guests will get as a glimpse as to what your wedding will be…read morelike. Get calligraphy--it is classy, personalized and will make the recipients feel special that it is handwritten just for them! Found Carolyn online via google or yelp... not even sure now... but she was very responsive via email (and had great communication through out the process too!). She is friendly and gets right down to work so you can have your envelopes/place cards, etc in no time! Carolyn even adapted her calligraphy style to match the font that was already printed on my invitation! And she sent a sample addressed (to me) envelope in the mail before I even agreed to have her do my invitations. She does beautiful work people and even though calligraphy is a hobby of hers (as she has a full time corporate job and a family)... she still takes pride in her work and will change any mistakes at no extra cost! Btw, she addressed about 175 outer envelopes, 175 inner, 250 named placecards for my May 2011 wedding, with about half of the names being foreign and uncommon... and there were no mistakes! and it was the CHEAPEST expense of my entire wedding... and yet the most personalized and special!

Extremely talented and professional. I wouldn't use anyone else for your special event. Carolyn is…read morethe best! Beautiful work!!

Horrible experience from day one to final product. An…read moreabsolute disgrace of business deceit, poor workmanship and ridiculous communication. Not sure how they are in business?

The shirts turned out great and in a timely manner at a reasonable price. They are very friendly as…read morewell. I will definitely go back if I need any new shirts made.

I would highly recommend Fond Memories to you, as I do to anyone who is looking for a photographer…read morewith that hard-to-find quality of being intuitively creative. Carly is able to translate your specific ideas and needs for your art so well.. not to mention she is able to add her expertise by throwing in suggestions and technique you may have never thought of. We used Fond Memories for our engagement photo session and still receive compliments on the original and artistic approach taken. After that, we also used Fond Memories for various decorations for our wedding, including the seating chart, table number artwork, menus and programs. Looking back at all of that, I couldn't have been happier with how well the design tied together. Any bride knows, the closer you get to your wedding date the more the stress piles on; Carly was patient, helpful and very timely in getting it all perfected for the wedding which meant everything to a bride stressing over everything else beyond that! Please check out Fond Memories- I know many people who have patronized, none of whom were disappointed. Judging from the prices and quality of more well-known studios in the Chicago area, I would argue this is the best value you can find for the unique product you want!

I had been going to stores looking through those books full of invitations and based on what I…read morewanted to spend, I had settled on an invitation that wasn't what I really pictured. Then a friend's sister told me about Marry-Me Designs and I looked it up. I filled out the Ideas Galore tab on the website and tried to explain what I was looking for. Tammy responded almost immediately and I had 3 concepts within a couple of days. I was so impressed; I booked with her right away! During the whole process, Tammy was such a pleasure to work with. She was extremely responsive and very accommodating. She worked with me to get the concept just right. At one point I was questioning something and Tammy said to me "Trust me, when you see it together you will love it." Well I'm so glad I did, because my invitations came out AMAZING! I have been getting so many comments from everyone as to how beautiful our invitations are. I absolutely love how they turned out; they were just what I had pictured my invitations to be! Plus her prices were much lower than I had seen looking through those books. I ended up spending less and getting more. I also had Tammy create my menus and programs that came out just as beautiful. I would (and have) recommend her to anyone.

When it came to completing invitations for our wedding, I found who I thought was going to be our…read morestationer. However, due to work and other glitches, I never signed on the dotted line. Then, while surfing for invitation ideas, I found Marry Me! Designs and a great find it was! Tammy, owner/designer of Marry Me! Designs, is not only a complete professional, she is patient, attentive, talented, and she ENJOYS doing stationery! From the first email until the very last email she sent me (a few minutes ago), Tammy has exuded a great spirit and total dedication to client happiness. Tammy will create programs, menu cards, place cards, and thank yous for our wedding to keep our theme going. If I could give her more stars I would! Did I mention she has reasonable prices and completes everything on time, as promised? Need a stationer, Marry Me! Designs is a must!

Sherry did an amazing job shooting our wedding! She adapted to a shifting schedule and made sure to…read morecapture all the key moments! Her photos were beautiful and incorporated her unique artistic style!

After my then-fiancé setup an appointment with Sherry for us to sit down and discuss our wedding…read moreday, I admit, I was relieved. Our first several encounters with a variety of photographers and left me, more or less, ripe with frustration. The prospective cost, the costs on top of that costs and the feeling of being nickel and dime'd into oblivion were starting to pile on. So, when the discussion started pertaining to what exactly was offered by Allusion with Sherry, my apprehension quickly melted away. She knows what she's doing. After looking over the amazing pictures her and the photographers in her employ had taken in the past in conjunction with the packages they offered, I quietly nodded to my fiancé and smiled. Everything was shaping up perfectly to the point that when she offered us the bridal expo discount on her top tier package, all of which is comprehensive with a ton rolled in, we accepted and put down our deposit. The exact details of the package are staggering, we just got so much for the money we put down, but even the lower tier packages struck me as significantly better than what any other photographers had offered us in the process of searching for someone to capture the special moments on our wedding day. On our wedding day, we had two photographers to capture both the bridal party as well as my groomsmen and I. Sherry herself was one of the photographers that day, given her familiarity with our venue, Stan Mansion. They followed us both throughout the day and into the evening capturing such an incredibly amount of pictures, that I couldn't help but be further impressed when we started going through them all on the website about a week after returning from our honeymoon. Besides the posed pictures, they never once became obtrusive or got in the way of myself, my bride, the fellow vendors or really anyone. They were the photographer equivalents of Batman, visible when they needed to be, but otherwise unnoticeable unless absolutely necessary. It was positively perfect. Speaking of perfect, the pictures they took were leagues beyond what my now-wife and I had hoped for. We've poured over them since receiving our proofs to finalize our wedding album and can't help but laugh and smile over the incredible skill displayed in the photographs. Well beyond putting disposable cameras on the table and well worth the quality any amateurs could have hoped to deliver upon. When my wife and I look back on our wedding pictures and the album therein ten, twenty or fifty years from now, we'll be thankful that we opted to go with Allusion Photography. On a personal level, Sherry could not have been more warm and professional to work with to capture our wedding and thereafter. She brings an outstanding class to her profession that easily trounces the casually maverick attitudes of many other photographers we'd discussed wedding details with. As I said, she knows what she's doing. Even during the meeting after the wedding to pick up proofs and discuss any outstanding details, she was more than receptive to deliver exactly what we wanted and to do so remarkably well, continuously ensuring that we were ultimately satisfied. Looking back, after everything we went through trying to find a photographer, I'm grateful to my wife for having stumbled upon Allusion. Every interaction we had with Sherry was pleasant and every dollar we spent was well worth it, and when planning a wedding, there's nothing quite like piece of mind knowing the people who will be working with you on that big day are friendly professionals. Sherry was both and we can't say thank you enough.

Fazia, at Rose Lane Styling, is amazing. My son's birthday theme was dog and Fazia had great,…read morecreative ideas. For example, incorporating (clean new) doggie bowls to use as serving ware. She had an excellent eye for detail and extremely organized (she sent me weekly email status updates and action items to do). She was able to negotiate great deals with the vendors and directly dealt with them which was amazing to get off my plate. I also had certain things that I wanted for the party (i.e. i try to be as sustainable as i can do that meant little waste, compostable plates, etc) and Fazia was able to source these items that met this demand (ie the plates matched the color theme and were cute!). Further, Fazia was very responsive. The theme, colors and vision came out so well. I definitely would work with Fazia again.

Fazia at Rose Lane is amazing. My mom found her when we were looking for someone to help plan my…read morebaby shower and although I wasn't hugely on the back end of the planning process she listened to all my ideas throughout the process and helped my dream shower come to life. I wanted it "instagram worthy" and she blew my expectations out of the water with all her little details we would have never thought of. So much so, we will be using Rose Lane for my next event which is my bridal shower.

Sparrow Notary Services provided excellent mobile notary services. I needed documents notarized…read morequickly, and they responded promptly to accommodate my request for them to come to my location. The notary arrived on time and handled the work professionally. The process was efficient, with the notarizations completed accurately. I would recommend Sparrow Notary Services to others needing reliable and convenient notary services. Their timely response, mobility, and competence make them a solid choice. I wouldn't hesitate to use their services again if I require a notary in the future.

Mandi was absolutely phenomenal! Needed to have a notary for real estate POA documents and she was…read morevery accommodating. The document required two witnesses, I could only provide one so she was able to provide an additional witness at a small fee. This was so convenient. She was able to come downtown after a horrible snow storm to help us get all these documents notarized on a weekend. If you're looking for a solid public notary with the flexibility to meet your schedule, Sparrow Mobile Notary is for you!

We started going to Acorn Portraits in February, when they offered a mini session. We had a newborn…read moreat home and it seemed like the perfect time to get some photos done. We had a grumpy little one and had very little expectation in terms of what the session would yield. What we got back was astounding in quality. We had a hard time narrowing down what we wanted. At that moment, we decided we wanted Amanda (the photographer at Acorn) to be our own and only. About Amanda the photographer: She has a great eye and uses natural light and relaxed poses instead of the stilted poses in front of static backgrounds. She's relaxed and fun and she makes you relaxed. I'm in that super awesome postpartum stage some of us go through, where you no longer look like you had a baby recently, but are still carrying around a lot of extra weight, and Amanda has managed to take pictures of me that I actually like. This is quite a feat. From a price and timing perspective, you pay for her time up front. It's a completely reasonable amount. She turns around the pictures from your shoot pretty darn quickly. And the costs to buy prints are really reasonable as well. We've had two more shoots since the first and have a couple more that we're planning on before the end of the year. I can't wait to work with her again.

I had a good experience with my children at their beautiful studio. Great picture quality as well!read more